Out of line fuze mechanism

ABSTRACT

A FUZE TO DETONATE THE PAYLOAD WITHIN A MUNITION WHEREIN THE STRIKER POINT TO DETONATE THE PRIMER MEANS IS OUT OF LINE WITH THE PRIMER MEANS WHEN THE MUNITION IS STORED, SHIPPED, OR HANDLED AND IS BROUGHT IN LINE BY ROTATING AN ACTUATING KNOB IN A CLOCKWISE DIRECTION, THE ACTUATING KNOB BEING UNDER SPRING TENSION AND FORCED OFF OF A CYLINDER MEANS WHEN PIN MEANS WITHIN A MOUNTING HEAD ARE DISENGAGED FROM RECESSES IN A TUBULAR PORTION OF THE KNOB, THE KNOB FORCES LIPS INTEGRAL WITH THE CYLINDER INNER WALL INTO A RECESS IN A PISTON SHAFT TO PREVENT THE PISTON SHAFT FROM BEING FORCED DOWNWARD TO DETONATE THE PRIMER MEANS WHILE THE KNOB IS ENGAGED WITH THE CYLINDER MEANS.

1971 M. J. CARLSON OUT OF LINE FUZE MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 22, 1969 mw w c MWA a 6 6 .m U

NOV. 1971 M. J. CARLSON OUT OF LINE FUZE MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 13 Filed May 22, 1969 INVENTOR Melvin J. Car/son ATTORN S Umted States Patent 3,616,753 OUT OF LINE FUZE MECHANISM Melvin J. Carlson, Havre de Grace, Md., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed May 22, 1969, Ser. No. 826,841 Int. Cl. F42b 27/00 US. Cl. 10264 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fuze to detonate the payload within a munition wherein the striker point to detonate the primer means is out of line with the primer means when the munition is stored, shipped, or handled and is brought in line by rotating an actuating knob in a clockwise direction; the actuating knob being under spring tension and forced off of a cylinder means when pin means within a mounting head are disengaged from recesses in a tubular portion of the knob; the knob forces lips integral with the cylinder inner wall into a recess in a piston shaft to prevent the piston shaft from being forced downward to detonate the primer means while the knob is engaged with the cylinder means.

The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My invention relates to a fuze means for arming various types of munitions, such as hand grenades.

All prior art striker actuated fuzes were designed to have a mechanical means, such as a lever, retain the striker means in the cocked position, such as disclosed in US. patent Ser. No. 3,434,421. The mechanical means was prevented from releasing the striker means by removably anchoring the mechanical means to the fuze body by a cotter pin means or a cotter pin means in combination with a safety lip means, as shown in the above prior art patent.

Premature arming of prior art fuzes due to accidental pulling of the pull ring, such as a shrub branch snagging the pull ring of a grenade being carried on the side of a man, or by mechanical failure of parts has been a long existing problem in the fuze art. My invention was con ceived and reduced to practice to overcome the aforementioned problem and satisfy the long felt need for a fuze which is reliably safe during storage, shipping, and handling.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a reliable fuze which cannot be detonated by any malfunction or premature activation of the striker means.

\Another object of my invention is to provide a reliable fuze which cannot be detonated by any malfunction or premature activation of the striker means; the fuze having an out-of-line striker means and being economical to manufacture.

Other objects of my invention will be obvious or will appear from the specification hereinafter set forth.

FIG. 1 is a view of my fuze mounted in a munition.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the arming components of my fuze.

FIG. 3 is a combined schematic side and top view of the relative positions of the activation knob, striker means,

and primer housing means of my fuze in the inactivated 3,616,753 Patented Nov. 2, 1971 My invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, will now be described in detail as follows.

Fuze 1 can be fixedly mounted within munition 2 by any conventional and convenient means, such as threadably within female mount means. 3, as shown in FIG. 1; the mount means being secured to the munition body by any convenient means such as welding, adhesively cementing, etc. While munition 2 is shown to be spherical in configuration, my fuze can be utilized with a munition of any configuration, and munition 2 can be made of any suitable and conventional material, such as plastic, rubber, metal, etc. Munition 2 can contain any desired conventional payload for a given application such as explosive composition, incendiary composition, explosive composition mixed with toxic agent composition, and/ or explosive composition mixed with incapacitating agent composition; the explosive composition mixed with the toxic and incapacitating agent composition being necessary to desseminate the agent. An elongated chamber means 4 of predetermined length is integral with the lower surface of the male mounting head 5 of the fuze; the length of the chamber means being determined by the size of the munition in which the fuze is to be used. A cavity 6 is centrally located within mounting head 5, and a cylinder means 7 is centrally located within cavity 6 and integral with chamber 4; cylinder 7 being divided into quarter sections 8 to impart flexibility to the cylinder. A lip means 9 is integral with the inner wall of each section '8 at the end of cylinder 7 opposite to the end integral with chamber 4; the lip being adapted to engage recess 10 of piston 11. Piston 11 is slidably mounted under spring tension by spring 14 within cylinder 7 and has a tongue means 12 integral with one end of the piston and a striker point 13 integral with the opposite end of the piston, as shown in FIG. 2. Spring 14 is retained in position by disc 15 integral with piston 11 adjacent to the striker point 13. Recesses 16 are provided in disc 15 to form ports for gas escape upon detonation of primer means 17 by striker point 13, as shown in FIG. 1. Primer means 17 is merely placed in hole 33 of primer mount 34, and the primer shoulder 21 rests on surface 35 of mount 34. After piston 11 is inserted into cylinder 7 and lips 9 engage recess 10, O ring 18 and spring 19 are inserted on and surrounding cylinder 7 and actuating knob 20 is inserted on tongue 12 by mating recess 44, as shown in FIG. 1, formed in the knob with the tongue and mating recessses 22 with pins 23; the pins projecting into cavity 6 just sufificiently to engage recesses 22. Recess 24 is provided in the top of mounting head 5 to anchor projection 25 of safety lever 26. Tongue 12 and the recess 44 in knob 20 are so aligned that recess 27 of knob 20 will engage ridge 28 of lever 26 when the knob is turned fully counter clockwise. When knob 20 is fully counter clockwise, pins 23 engage slots 29 of recesses 22. After knob 20 is fully counter clockwise and ridge 28 is within recess 27, lever 26 is secured in position across the top of knob 20 by inserting projection 25 in recess 24 and inserting cotter pin 30 attached to pull ring 31 through holes 32. Additional mechanical safety precaution, such as angle bolt 22 in the prior art US. patent Ser. No. 3,434,421, can also be provided as desired. When knob 20 is fully counter clockwise, as described above, striker point 13 is in the position in relation to hole 33 of primer mount 34, as shown in FIG. 3. When in the position shown in FIG. 3, the fuze cannot be detonated even if striker point 13 is prematurely actuated, because point 13 will strike surface 35 of mount 34 and will not enter hole 33 to detonate primer 17. Mounts 34 is inserted in chamber 4 and retained therein by lips 36, which are integral with the inner chamber 4 wall, engaging recess 37 in mount 34. Channel 38 is provided in mount 34 to enable gas escape to ports 16 after detonation of primer 17. A conventional pyrotechnic mix 39 is mounted in the threaded chamber 40 of mount 34; the threads being utilized as a retaining means for the mix 39. Flame from detonated primer 17 ignites mix 39 and mix 39 ignites the payload within munition 2. To activate my fuze, cotter pin 30 is withdrawn from holes 32 by means of pull ring 31 to permit removal of safety lever 26. After removal of safety lever 26, knob 20 is depressed and turned fully clockwise so that pins 23 will engage slots 41 of recesses 22 and striker point 13 is rotated from the offset position shown in FIG. 3 to the in-line position for firing shown in FIG. 4; piston 11 being attached to knob 20 by friction fit to enable rotation of striker point 13. Upon release of knob 20, force exerted by spring 19 pushes knob 20 upward and removes it from cylinder 7. After removal of knob 20 from cylinder 7, lips are displaced from recess by spring-like action, and force exerted by spring 14 pushes piston 11 downward; lips 9 having been held in recess 10 and piston 11 thereby retained with cylinder 7 by knob while the knob was in position on cylinder 7. When piston 11 is released from the knob fully clockwise position, as described above, striker point 13 will enter hole 33 of mount 34, as shown in FIG. 4, and detonate primer 17. 0 rings 18, 42, and 43 are provided to prevent moisture from getting into munition 2. Recess 27 can be painted with a color as a safety precaution to provide visual assurance that my fuze is in the safe position during shipping, storage, and handling, as shown in FIG. 3.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A fuze for detonating a payload within a munitlon comprising a mounting head means adapted to be mounted within a munition, a chamber means integral with the mounting head means lower surface, a cylindenmeans within the mounting head means and integral with the chamber means, a piston means sl-idably mounted under spring tension within the cylinder means, striker point means integral with the piston means and located outside of the chamber means, actuating knob means being removably mounted under spring tension on an end of the piston means projecting from the cylinder means and primer mount means within the chamber means end opposite to the mounting head; said actuating knob means and piston means being rotatable as a unit to arm the fuze.

2. The fuze of claim 1 wherein the payload is selected from the group consisting of an incendiary composition, an explosive composition, a mixture of explosive composition and incapacitating agent composition, and a m1xture of explosive composition and lethal agent COIIIPOSI- tion.

3. The fuze of claim 1 wherein the munition is a hand grenade.

'41. The fuze of claim 1 wherein the mounting head 1s annular in configuration and threadably mounted by male threads within a set of female threads of the munition, said mounting head having a flange integral with the upper surface and having a recess above the chamber means; an O ring being located below the flange and surrounding the male threads, the O ring being adapted to prevent moisture from entering the munition.

5. The fuze of claim 4 wherein a pin means is located below the flange and through a diameter of the mounting head, said pin means projecting within the mounting head recess and being adapted to engage a slot means in a tubular portion of the actuating knob to permit rotation of the knob from a safe position to a detonating position, said mounting head having a recess adapted to receive a projection means integral with one end of a safety lever to anchor the projection end of the safety lever, the recess being in the upper surface of the mounting head.

6. The fuze of claim 1 wherein the chamber means has a plurality of lips integral with the chamber inner wall and located at the chamber end opposite to the end integral with the mounting head, said lips being adapted to engage a recess in the primer mount means.

7. The fuze of claim 6 wherein a plurality of slot means are formed in the chamber means adjacent to the lips, said slot means being adapted to impart flexibility to the chamber means end and to permit the lips to snap into the primer mount recess.

8. The fuze of claim 1 wherein the cylinder means is slotted to form quarter sections, each section having a lip means adapted to engage a recess in the piston means, the lip means being integral with the cylinder inner wall at the end opposite to the end of the cylinder integral with the chamber means; and O-ring surrounding the cylinder means and within the mounting head recess, the O-ring being adapted to prevent moisture from entering the munition; a spring means superimposed on the O-ring and surrounding the cylinder means and within the mounting head recess, the spring means being adapted to provide tension for the actuating knob and to provide upward force for removal of the actuating knob when the knob is in the actuating position.

9. The fuze of claim 1 wherein the piston means has a shaft means, a tongue means integral with the shaft and located at the end opposite to the striker point, a recess within the shaft below and adjacent to the tongue means, disc means integral with and surrounding the shaft means, and a spring means superimposed on the disc means and surrounding the shaft means; the tongue means being adapted to engage a slot means within the actuating knob and to provide for rotation of the striker point from a safe to a detonating position, the recess being adapted to engage the cylinder means lips to hold the striker point in a safe position when the tongue means is engaged within the slot within the actuating knob and the actuating knob is rotated fully counter clockwise, the disc means being adapted to retain the spring means in position and under tension, and the spring means being adapted to provide tension to force the piston means downward upon removal of the actuating knob; said disc means having a plurality of recesses located circumferentially and having the recess vertical axis parallel to the piston shaft vertical axis, said recess being adapted to provide ports for gas escape following detonation of a primer means within the primer mount means.

10. The fuze of claim 1 wherein the actuating knob has a tubular portion integral with a head portion, the tubular portion being adapted to engage the cylinder means and the head portion having a slot means within the inner surface adapted to engage the piston tongue means and a recess axially located in the outer surface adapted to engage a ridge means in the safety lever to lock the actuating knob in a safe position; hole means being provided axially through the head portion to receive a cotter pin for retaining the safety lever in a position to avoid premature fuze detonation; a pair of slot means on opposite sides of the tubular portion, each slot means being in a vertical plane parallel to the vertical plane of the recess in the head portion, each slot means having a first vertical member extending a predetermined distance from a point on the tubular portion below the head portion along the tubular portion to the end of the tubular portion opposite to the head portion, a second vertical member extending a predetermined distance from a point on the tubular portion opposite to the point of the first vertical member on the tubular portion below the head portion along the tubular portion to a point adjacent to the end of the tubular portion opposite to the head portion, and a horizontal member connecting the two vertical members at the points on the tubular portion below the head portion from which the vertical members extend; an O-ring surrounding the tubular portion below the head portion, said O-ring being adapted to prevent moisture from entering the munition.

11. The fuze of claim 1 wherein the primer mount means is a plug having a hole in the upper surface adapted to contain a primer means to be detonated by the striker point; said plug having a notch extending from the upper surface a predetermined distance along the length of the plug, the notch containing a channel means therein connected with the hole means, said channel means being adapted to permit gas escape to the disc ports after detonation of the primer means; said plug having an annular recess located below the notch, said recess being adapted to engage the chamber means lips to retain the plug within the chamber means.

12. A method of detonating a payload within a munition at a target site comprising the steps of placing a first O-ring around a cylinder means and within a recess in a mounting head, the cylinder means being integral with a chamber means; superimposing a first spring means on the first O-ring means; placing a second spring means around a piston shaft, second spring means being retained on the piston shaft by a disc means integral with the piston shaft; inserting the piston shaft through the chamber means and slidably wihin the cylinder means; pushing upward on the disc means by means of a rigid rod to depress the second spring means and to permit the piston shaft to project from the upper end of the cylinder means; aligning an actuating knob so that a slot inside the knob will engage a tongue means on the piston shaft and a pair of first vertical members of a pair of recesses in a tubular portion of the actuating knob will engage a pair of pins projecting within a recess in the mounting head; pressing the actuating knob downward to depress the first spring means; engaging the actuating knob with the cylinder means, the cylinder means being within the tubular portion of the actuating knob in the engaged position; rotating the actuating knob counter clockwise, the pin means riding a horizontal member of the pair of recesses to a second vertical member; releasing the knob when fully counter clockwise, the second vertical member not extending to the edge of the actuating knob tubular portion maintains the first spring means under tension; placing a safety lever over the actuating knob, a ridge in the safety lever being aligned with and located within a recess axially located in the top of the actuating knob, a projection on one end of the safety lever being anchored in a recess in the mounting head; securing the safety lever across the actuating knob by inserting a cotter pin through aligned holes in the safety lever and the actuating knob, said securing being adapted to prevent premature removal of the actuating knob; inserting a primer means within a primer holder means; inserting and securing the primer holder means within the chamber means; securing the fuze within a munition containing a payload; removing the cotter pin and safety lever from the actuating knob; turning the actuating knob to the fully clockwise position, said fully clockwise position permitting the first spring means to force the actuating knob upward and off of the cylinder means and the second spring means to force the piston shaft downward to detonate the primer means; ejecting the munition to the target; and detonating the payload as a result of ignition of a delay fuze by flame from the detonated primer means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,763,212 9/1956 McCaslin 102-64 X 2,830,538 4/1958 Dodge 10270 X 2,872,866 2/1959 Brown et a1 l0264 2,934,014 4/1960 Smith et all l0270.2 I X SAMUEL W. ENGLE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. XR. 10276 

